Brian Wilson, Dodgers beat Giants 2-1 in opener

Brian Wilson made his San Francisco debut as a Dodger, walking to the mound in the eighth inning amid a chorus of both boos and cheers – to Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” fittingly — and walking off after 10 pitches to mostly silence.

He got three quick outs, and an inning later the Dodgers completed Tuesday night’s 2-1 win over the Giants.

“It’s not the first time they booed with the Dodgers in town,” said Wilson, who earned 171 saves for the Giants before signing with the Dodgers on July 30. “It’s fine. Due diligence. It’s what fans do. It’s their right. I love it.”

It was a unique vibe at China Basin for the series opener, with October about to provide far different stories for both teams compared with 2012. The Giants are going home after Sunday’s regular-season finale, and the first-place Dodgers are opening the playoffs four days later.

It didn’t mean the downtown ballpark lacked spirit and intrigue, a given for anything Giants-Dodgers. Matt Cain plunked Yasiel Puig with two outs and the bases empty in the third inning, and Puig retaliated the best way possible for a big-leaguer. He homered in his next at-bat. On the first pitch, in fact.

Tony Abreu answered Puig’s fifth-inning homer with one of his own in the home half of the inning, and Matt Kemp’s homer in the sixth decided the outcome. The Giants had four hits in seven innings off Hyun-Jin Ryu and did little against Wilson and closer Kenley Jansen.

Buster Posey hit a one-out single in the ninth, and pinch-runner Francisco Peguero advanced on a wild pitch, but Jansen struck out Hunter Pence and Pablo Sandoval.

“Definitely a little different, watching him come in from over there,” Cain said of Wilson. “It’s part of the game, guys getting moved around a bit. We’re happy he’s healthy. He meant a lot to us with what we’ve done here in the past years.”

Wilson, who joined the Dodgers at the end of his rehab for a second Tommy John surgery, fired a pitch high and tight to Gregor Blanco, who glared toward the mound, before striking him out on a 91-mph fastball.

“He was trying to get me off the plate, but I let him know I was there,” Blanco said. “I really like him. He’s an aggressive guy, and I told myself to be aggressive, too.”

Angel Pagan fouled out, and Wilson amped it up to 95 to strike out Juan Perez, ending the inning.

“At this point, it doesn’t seem strange at all,” manager Bruce Bochy said of the blue-clad Wilson.

Wilson welcomed Giants fans’ reaction but hinted he could’ve been razzed some more. “I was expecting better here,” he said.

He added, “As baseball players, we get booed a lot. That’s what goes on. If you let yourself get swallowed by it and then go out there and let the nerves get to you and do bad and then wonder in your hotel room, ‘Why did I pitch badly?’ it’s because you let it affect you.”

Cain will get one more start Sunday. Bochy tweaked his rotation so that Barry Zito will get one more start, Wednesday against the Dodgers. He’s replacing Madison Bumgarner, who won’t pitch again in 2013, his best season statistically. He finishes with 199 strikeouts.

“He’s done a lot,” Bochy said of Zito. “We know what he did last year for us.”